Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for April 09, 2024

“Hoo-Wee!!!”

Good morning™, all!

“Oh brother!” That was my reaction or pretty close, but I’m fine with it. I’m a little surprised that there is a member of the Jones family that Tracy has never encountered, but I guess he can’t know everything. Is this the first time that Charles drew Sam? Nice angle on him.

Good morning™, Bad Relations !

I think Tracy needs an antacid. Sam has good face.

“Blowtop says the family just reconnected with Croptop. Apparently she was left at an orphanage for years. Something about a lawyer named ‘Bob Smith’ and paperwork in a garage. Couldn’t figure out what he was talking about.”

this is a perfect example of Dick’s lackadaisical attitude in not staying on ‘top’ of things in goings-on of the criminal underworld, specifically Flatty’s family……

Trying to get used to Sam’s face-lift under Doctor Chucky’s skilled knife work.

Also, I dig a newspaper that can change a headlines font faster than Firestrike farts!

sometimes I use the Daily to clean up in case it turns out to be something else than what it originally SEEMED to be at first…

hey, sometimes I forget to stock up, y’ know?… LOL…

They left out Mulletop. Crime boss in the front and raver drug lord in the back. They also left out Buzztop, ex-military who is working for a corrupt PMC. Not to mention their sister Bobtop who happens to be a well rounded character.

Could talk to Poptop too, but he’d just blow his lid.

Why are they reading the paper? Sounds like a job for LapTop!

All those Tops is enough to make one reach for a caffeine fix.

I have coffee every morning with another member of the family…..Milktop…..

Don’t forget “Spinning Top”, the D.J. on the radio!

And don’t leave out “Big Top”, the circus performer!

Not terribly subtle, but it’s a way to bring new readers up to speed on the Flattop Family Tree.

Back to the amazing coincidence. Just as Croptop arrives in town it is such a slow news day (No earthquakes, eclipses, terrible storms, war in any parts of the world, accidents, etc) that the paper runs a story on Flattop’s family.

In journalism that would be called a feature article. It isn’t news. Feature articles don’t make the front page, above the fold (top half of the page), with picture. (There may be a large page with picture given to a feature article somewhere back in the paper. But never front page.)

Since feature articles aren’t news they can be kept around for a slow news day, when an editor will need to fill half a page with a new recipe for deviled eggs or a list of famous people buried in a local cemetery. But FRONT PAGE? Just as Croptop arrives at a random bar to recruit stooges? Coincidence is used way too often as a crutch.

Great perspective artwork. Only a master cartoonist can does perspective perfectly.

Sam looks 10 years younger…

I almost spit out my coffee laughing! I was waiting for the angry uncle Blowtop to show up too.

and who could forget Toptop, who’s always on top of things (some say he’s the real brains of the family).

“Gosh…Woo!”

You forgot HiTop

I don’t remember a Sharptop. When did he show up?

Bigtop ran away to join the circus.

What happened to hightop?

Oh how splendid ! Sam’s looking great and Dick’s got something to get all detective about . A picture of the notorious Flattop on the front page of the paper and I am stoked about this story .

Dick Tracy looks great today . The art is great . The story is great . Sam is great and America’s greatest detective , Dick Tracy , is great . Is the long drought over ?

The text of todays strip is terse and to the point with appropriate artwork that compliments it .

What about the NBA center, Mountaintop?

So, a quiet shift to a new storyline? I had figured the Annie one would last significantly longer.

Let us not forget Poptop, the cousin who dealt in counterfeit Poptarts, but was killed when he overloaded his latest creation with ‘unstable cinnamon’.

Or musical assassin Beboptop and his lethal kazoo!

Only third cousin, twice removed Coptop escaped the family ‘business’ and went staright.

What about the cousin who is a short order cook, Stovetop? Or the circus manager, Bigtop? Or the environmentalist, Treetop?

1-SAM: EXTRA, EXTRA! GITCHER PAPER HERE! OLD NEWS IS NEW AGAIN! DT: I’ll take one, boy. Oh. It’s you, Sam. Do you have to bring your side hustles into the squad room?

2-…Hmmm. Flattop is still dead…

3-The citizenry of Tracyville will be thrilled to learn that! What’s this? Shootout in South Tracyville results in 10 dead, and 15 wounded. I’m glad I saw that! Wow! I’m never going down there! Oh look. They put Little Orphan Annie on the front page! That’s convenient.

and then there is the Derriere family…Flatbutt, Tightbutt, Roundbutt, and Stinkybutt.

I counted 463 “Top” family references in today’s Comments. Did anyone come up with a higher number?

@Neil Wick – I agree with you on Charles art of Sam and his over all art work. I havea feeling this will be a good story to follow!

Then there is Croptop, Screwtop, Poptop…

Interestingly, all these tops were never able to keep a lid on it.

Flattop my all time favorite

….AND Blowtop gives “Top Value” Stamps! Can’t squirrel away too many books of those, now can we?……

Don’t forget Laptop, who makes his illegal money by hacking into wealthy people’s accounts, then disguises his footprint by making it seem that a farmer in East Nowhere NE is doing the hacking.

♪♪ You’re the Tops!

You’re a wicked multitude.

You’re the Tops!

You tax Tracy’s fortitude…. ♪♪

Is he related to blowpop?

And who knows how many more.

Hey, Sharptop was hypnotized. And no mention of Hi-Top, who killed a kid for a pair of sneakers.

Sam looks great—20 years experience rolled into one panel.

And by Gouldian tradition, “lulls” never last long.

Left out ‘Hightop’. Was that for PC reasons?